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Events CLICK
HERE FOR THE
Prayer Breakfast - Thursday, July 28, 2005: 7 a.m. - Admission $5.00. Tickets will not be sold at the door. Anyone interested in tickets, should send a check for the total amount of tickets needed made payable to Harford County Farm Fair, Inc. PO Box 22, Bel Air, MD 21014 no later than July 15, 2005. Senior Day - Thursday, July 28, 2005: Admission $3.00 for Seniors with ID, age 60 and older Check
out these articles on some of the great events on this year's schedule!
Authentic Chuckwagon to Set Up Camp at 2005 Harford County Farm Fair After a long day on the trail to Abilene, Kansas, cowboys round up cattle and set up camp. As the beans cook over the crackling fire, they relax to the wail of a harmonica or strum of a guitar. No, this isn't an old West scene from 1865. The men of Rusty's Trail Blazing Chuckwagon make a habit of it in many places outside of the West. Rusty and Bud Rankin and "Riverboat John" Ferguson take their original 1901 John Deere chuckwagon across the country teaching people about the days of driving cattle on more than 1,500 miles of trails between Texas and Abilene. They will have camp set up every day at the Harford County Farm Fair in Bel Air. "Our goal is interactive, agricultural and historical entertainment," Ferguson said. Bud said the time period of trailblazing they talk about is between the end of the Civil War in 1865 to the turn of the century. Cowboys used chuckwagons in a variety of ways. They transported bedding and tents in them, used them as kitchens, doctor's offices, country stores, for farriers and carpenter shops. The Rankins and Ferguson will tell about all the uses of the wagon, share stories about the life of a cowboy and sing old cowboy songs. "This causes people to lean forward, to listen, to laugh and to learn," Ferguson said. Ferguson plays guitar, banjo and buffalo bones while Bud plays harmonica and Rusty plays a wash tub bass. "But we're not country-western singers," Rusty said, "we don't sing about pickup trucks, momma or your dog. We don’t have a Nashville, New York or Los Angeles sound." He said cowboys used the hymns and other songs they already knew and changed the words to express what they had experienced on the trail. Visitors of all ages can also taste such trail-blazin' grub as pinto beans, black boiled coffee and cornbread for free. The Rankins are descendants of Mexican land-grant pioneers who were horse wranglers and still live on the Texas land their forefathers claimed that had large populations of wild mustang horses and longhorn cattle. Ferguson, is the great-grandson of a colorful Civil War army sergeant, grandson of a colorful Spanish American War army sergeant, and son of a colorful WWII army sergeant. He moved to New York's Greenwich Village after high school to join the Folk Revival Movement, graduated from George Washington University, served in the U.S. Army, also as an army sergeant, and traveled — a lot. He got his nickname because he has ridden on every paddleboat he has come across. Ferguson said his trail-blazing roots originate with Captain Richard King, a riverboat pilot who plied all the rivers of Alabama (Ferguson's home state) and went on to settle King's Ranch near the Rankinses hometown of George West, Texas. |
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